Urban farming, food security

Fouad Al-Obaid

It is no secret that Kuwait has very little arable lands, let alone sufficient natural fresh water to develop farming at commercial levels. The little farms we have in the country at best contribute to our food diversity, and are not nearly sufficient to cover the local demand of the inhabitants of Kuwait. With the constant danger looming from the Iranian conflict which is predicted at best to create potential disturbances in the Arabian Gulf’s shipping lanessource for all of our foodstuff and other needs – we ought to start finding ways and means to reduce our reliance on imported food.

Officially, the government has silos with enough food to last months. Nevertheless, more strategic undertakings need to be envisioned to help supplement the food structure and offering in Kuwait over the long haul. Though the climate is not kind to us most of the year, with many trials and errors, various projects were undertaken to assess the plants that are most likely to survive in our harsh environment. It is not a far stretch to start thinking outside of the box, to seek novel means to address the national food shortage issue.

One of such means that has been slowly growing in importance in many cities across the world is the integration of vegetation within the urban landscape. Urban farms provide food, activities for the locals to immerse themselves with the products we as human consume and create micro-food silos that come handy in times of trouble. With the billions of daily gallons of water produced for homes and industry in Kuwait we should find means of putting this water once treated to good use.

Water and plants are highly prized in desert environment for their rarity, now that some of our cities are starting to mature, once basic services are established, life enhancing activities need to be developed in our various areas throughout Kuwait to add value to our cities.

One mean by which such added value could be achieved is through the development of micro-farms in urban settings between house and apartment complexes that would maximize land utility leading to more stable grounds that would combat desertification and creating mini-silos that could reduce the need to import foodstuff especially in times of national emergencies when the supply of such foodstuff could be compromised or delayed.

In a structured program that would come under an ‘edutainment’ agenda – education along with entertainment – the municipality would earmark various plots that would be transferred to the local coops who would then allocate them to desiring citizens and expatriates in a system that would ensure maximization of benefit.

The produce would then be sold back to the Coop’s and re-sold through their distribution system. The derived benefits are multiple, it would allow for the generation of small revenue for the hobby farmers.

It would allow the development of social activities around such venues while creating awareness about foodstuff to the wider population. Positively, it would enhance the greening of Kuwait all the long ensuring a conscious attempt at securing food supplies to the local market.

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